Ekta Kapoor gets hate mails for Bade Acche Lagte Hai leap

Come June-end, and Ekta Kapoor’s hit TV show Bade Acche Lagte Hain (BALH) will take a five-year leap. The producer says the idea is to bring in some amount of “freshness” to the show, reports Prashant Singh.

Come June-end, and Ekta Kapoor’s hit TV show Bade Acche Lagte Hain (BALH) will take a five-year leap. The producer says the idea is to bring in some amount of “freshness” to the show.

“When we started BALH, the plan was to run it for only 150 episodes. But fortunately, the show has done well. Now the challenge is: how to take the storyline forward and maintain the freshness?” says Ekta, who has received loads of hate mail for her decision.

She claims she hasn’t got such a strong response from viewers ever since Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi ended. “…after Mihir’s character died, actually. Not just me, everyone who is involved with the show has been at the receiving end. Ranging from positive to negative, the reactions have been extreme. My inbox has also been jammed. Honestly speaking, hate mail can get quite unnerving at times,” says Ekta.

The producer had even considered taking a six-month season break from BALH. “But in India, unlike the West, we don’t have such a structure. Plus, we can’t keep making it dramatic with day-to-day happenings,” she insists.

Interestingly, roughly 20 episodes of the show (after the leap) will be set in Dubai.

“It’s going to be a completely different and new story. I’m going to change the entire setting. It’s going to be a big step for Balaji Telefilms,” says Ekta, explaining why she had to release a promo of the show post-leap a bit urgently.

“There are some small ‘TV-special portals’ that keep updating false stories about the show. And that’s why audiences also get exposed to wrong information, which then leads to such reactions. Audiences generally get attached to TV shows and then they get disturbed with such false reporting. That’s the reason we have already released a promo,” she says.